Rotherham United are incredibly proud to have been named as one of just 12 clubs to achieve the Family Excellence Gold Award, in what has been a record-breaking season for teams across the whole EFL.
As a football club which has our supporters at the very heart of everything we do, our ‘Family Excellence Committee’ have continued to meet regularly throughout the campaign to ensure that we are always improving the matchday experience here at AESSEAL New York Stadium and we are delighted to have been rewarded for our efforts with the coveted Gold Award.
Now in its 15th year, the Family Excellence Scheme is an ongoing consultation programme, which aims to drive continuous improvement and best practice in family engagement across the leagues.
As part of the scheme, the Millers received two ‘mystery family’ visits during the course of the 2022/23 campaign, where we were evaluated across a range of various different criteria involving the family experience for supporters attending fixtures at our AESSEAL New York Stadium home.
Having achieved ‘Silver’ status for our efforts in the 2021/22 campaign, the club were determined to go one better this time around, with 2022/23 proving to be another stellar year for the Millers on the Family Excellence front.
It goes without saying that supporter experience is of paramount importance to us here at Rotherham United and as ever, we incorporated a number of new and innovative ideas to engage with supporters who attended our games as families.
Coming in for praise on the club’s report was our GoalZone, which offers a variety of activities for families – both children and adults - to get involved with ahead of kick off, which is enjoyed by both home and away supporters. Our facilities and ticket services also scored highly across both reports, with various clubs staff compliment for their helpful and friendly nature.
Speaking following the confirmation that the Millers had achieved Family Excellence Gold for the first time, head of Supporter Services John Bird said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to have achieved Family Excellence Gold status,” he told www.themillers.co.uk.
“A lot of hard work has been put in in-house by the club and the Community Trust to ensure we offer our supporters the best possible matchday experience that we can and we’re extremely proud to have seen this rewarded. However, we want this to very much be the start and rather than standing still, we want to continue to improve year on year."
“We’ve always strived to provide supporters with an environment in which our fans, both young and old can enjoy what we have to offer here at AESSEAL New York Stadium and that people recognise that we will always take their feedback on board to ensure that we carry on improving going forward.
“I would to thank everyone who has come forward with constructive feedback in order to help us keep evolving. Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this remarkable feat.”
EFL Chief Executive, Trevor Birch, said:
“Our Clubs deserve an enormous amount of praise for the outstanding work they have done in making sure the matchday experience is a welcoming one for all families, which has helped boost attendances across all our competitions.
“From improved engagement with supporters before and after games, to innovative approaches on the matchday itself, such as creating dedicated fan zones and improving catering options, Clubs are pulling out all the stops to enhance their offering and attract the next generation of young fans.
“I would like to congratulate all those Clubs who have achieved Family Excellence status and thank them for their efforts.”
If supporters have any suggestions on how to make the matchday experience better, please email them through to suggestions@rotherhamunited.net